Description:In Philippians 3:1-11, the apostle Paul contrasts two approaches to achieving a right relationship with God: through the merits of our own effort and privilege, or through faith in Jesus Christ. Though he had every credential for boasting in his own background and effort, he counts it all as loss compared to knowing Christ.

Description:In Philippians 2:19-30, Paul talks about two men as examples of the kind of thinking he has been talking about. Timothy and Epaphroditus both looked out for the interests of others before their own. We are called to steadfastly serve and sacrifice for the benefit of others.

Description:Just as stars shine brightly against the backdrop of the night sky, Paul exhorts believers to shine for Jesus Christ in the midst of the darkness of a world that is deeply marred by sin. We are called to "work out" the implications of our salvation in front of a watching world, knowing that it is God who empowers us to live for him.

Description:In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul calls us to contemplate, and then copy the mind of Christ. Jesus set aside His position of privilege to minister to our needs and trusted the Father to exalt Him in proper time. We must do the same!

Description:In this passage, Paul exhorts the Philippian church towards unity and towards looking out for the interests of others. This unity is based the work of Jesus Christ and the relationship that Christ-followers have with each other on that basis. We are called to humility in our relationships, and towards unity in the church that is not based on sameness but on the work of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Description:Fear can easily be an obstacle in our Christian life. This week's message talks about how we move from fear to hope. As Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he could very easily have focused on the fears that accompanied his circumstances. Instead, he rejoices in the expectation that, no matter how his circumstances turned out, he would not be ashamed of the gospel and that Christ would be exalted whether he lived or died. We can have hope no matter the circumstances because of Jesus Christ.

Description:When Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, he was imprisoned, facing a trial that could mean his death.Yet, rather than focusing on the misery of his circumstances, his focus was on serving God and turning his circumstances into an opportunity to do so. How do we gain that kind of perspective? Making the opportunity to serve God an ultimate priority, even when hardships come, do we allow ourselves to be used of Him?

Description:Partnering in faith, love, and prayer in your believer community. People will come and go in and out of our lives as we share in the partnership of the gospel. Our journey with them begins the moment they believe and it continues throughout not only our time on this earth, but throughout eternity. As we reflect on this passage it raises a question. Who do you seek to influence for Christ? Who have you invested your time, passion, and commitment to in seeing to the spiritual growth of others? All of us can have the joy of being used by God to help others along in their spiritual journey. When someone finds Christ they become a part of our fellowship in the gospel. We share a common faith and a common connection because of our spiritual union with Jesus Christ. We are partners in the gospel!

Description:Isn’t it easy to formulate our own plans and stubbornly hold on to them no matter what comes our way? We are to plan, but we are to accept changes in our plan when God leads us in a different direction. At times we are privileged to have God bring us across the paths of those who are seeking to find the truth about God. We need to be obedient to go where He sends us.

Description:God wants us to know that we have eternal life, that we can approach Him boldly in prayer, but that we should strive toward living holy lives in gratitude for all He’s done for us. Believers aren’t to compromise by adopting the attitudes and actions of the world around them. They aren’t to blend in to the society to where there isn’t an observable difference between them and the lost. As we live in this world we need to remember that while we are in this world, we aren’t to be of it.

Description:Many attempt to redefine Jesus and put in to question who he is and in doing so, attempt to rob the gospel of its power which at its core is about Jesus. We know the truth!Jesus is God who came in the flesh and died for us to bring forgiveness and eternal life. He is who the scripture presents Him to be and because of this we can come into a relationship with the almighty God and have the hope of eternity!

Description:True Faith in Jesus brings true life - By believing and receiving Jesus we become children of God. True Life demonstates itself in True Love - By abiding in God and loving one another and keeping His commandments. He abides in us by the Spirit He has given us.True Love is empowered by True Victory - Who do we need to share God's love with? In the way that God has shown us. And how? God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Description:Abide in God because He has given us His spirit. Agree that Jesus is the Son sent to be Savior of the world. Accept that you are loved by God and need to abide in Him. Allow God’s truth and love to change you and approach the day of judgement with confidence. Avoid fear by being perfected in God’s love and apply the love of God to how you love each other.

Description:God’s love should be our model in how to love, but more than that He is the power behind our ability to love as we depend upon Him. God wants us to have an ever-deepening love that seeks to love as He loves. We show the world what a deep intimate relationship with God looks like as we reflect the love of God to those around us.

Description:Where are you in your walk with God? Are you struggling with doubt and uncertainty? Questioning your relationship with God? Turn to His truth and respond to it by yielding to His commands and depending on what He says and what His Spirit does to gain victory in these struggles.

Description:God, the creator over everything, wants a relationship with us! He wants us to know Him. He sent Jesus to show us who He is and made it possible for us to have a relationship with Him. We can choose to restore our relationship with God by redemption through Jesus!

Description:What is love? Love is a decision, a commitment to seek the good of another and choose to actively benefit them no matter what. It is the foundation of all that we as believers are to do as we interact with one another and with the world around us. Christian love is important to God!

Description:Who does our character best reflect? Righteousness or Lawlessness? Lawlessness resents God’s boundaries, rebels against them. We are all sinners but even though we rebel, God reached out to us in love by sending His Son into this world to take away our sin., By accepting, he changes us from within, changing our minds and giving us a new nature that seeks righteous behavior - reflecting Him.

Description:Are we looking forward to Christ"s return or are we in some way shrinking back from it because we’re out of fellowship with Him? His word explains that when we abide in Him and are in close fellowship with our God we will be excited about His return!

Description:John warns us about a world system that stands opposed to God. We are to be aware of the existence of antichrists who seek to deceive, confuse and draw us into bad doctrine through media, books, broadcasts, etc. Dependence on the Spirit of God is the key to keeping from doctrinal error.

Description:Passionately loving the things of this world is harmful to us. Pursuing this world and God is impossible. We cannot have it both ways. Listen to what the word has to say on how we are not to be conformed by this world, but transformed by the renewal of our mind.

Description:Have you ever believed something that was not true? Have you ever believed something that wasn't true about you? We need to encourage one another by affirming truth about our position and life in Christ.

Description:The difference between knowing about and really knowing God. A personal relationship with God brings change. We are given a new nature, transformed by the Spirit of God. Genuinely knowing God is a result of our new life, the desire to keep His commandments through our decisions and actions. This obedience comes from our love for God.

Description:John's purpose in writing this letter was not to give believers a pass when it comes to sin, in fact, quite the opposite - the goal of every believer ought to be not to sin. God's provision for sin delivered us from the condemnation due to sin, but He also delivers us from our ongoing struggle with sin as we strive to live obedient lives.

Description:We are beginning a new series in the book of 1 John, a series titled The Authentic Life. John begins his letter by talking about how, in order to become an authentic follower of Jesus Christ, we need to know who He is. And we can only know who Jesus is through God's revelation - Him speaking the truth through His Word.

Description:During a conference in Orlando I attended last week, I was reminded that the gospel has the power to transform lives, but we must go to where people are and share the gospel - WE ARE THE VOICE OF THE GOSPEL. Paul gives testimony to this in his letters. In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, we find a record of Paul's ministry as he shared the gospel in a Greek city know for its idolatry and immorality. Even in a place that many would find 'too far gone', the gospel went forth, changed lives, and saw a church planted that would become a testimony to other churches and stand as a beacon of God's grace.

Description:Today we are going to look at Peter, a man who failed like no one else because he walked with Jesus-seeing the miracles he performed, being given power and authority to do more than he was capable of, and yet when the opportunity arose for him to stand up for Jesus. . .he failed. If we are honest with ourselves - we see a lot of Peter in ourselves.

Description:In the passage we are looking into this morining, we see a huge change in the life of the Apostle Paul. Before he met the resurrected Christ, he counted on his personal performance to be right with God. He lists his credentials and he shares his approach to knowing God. But according to Acts there was a huge change in his life when he met the resurrected Jesus on a road and saw that he needed to depend on Jesus rather than his own personal performance to know God. The same can be said for us. I am convinced that until a person recognizes that they are a helpless sinner in need of deliverance, they aren't ready to receive Christ as savior. Savior means deliverer. How can one be delivered if they don't recognize their need?

Description:The work of sharing the Gospel is something every Christian ought to engage in - it isn't just for pastors and evangelists. But there are considerations believers need to bear in mind as they seek to be obedient in this - people wil look at how we live and they will use that as a filter through which to consider what we say.

Description:The Bible is very clear about roles in the home. Although our society has changed its views toward the roles of men and women (and now there is even confusion about what constitutes being a man or a woman), the scripture is unambiguous. Let's look at the roles God has laid out for leadership in the home.

Description:As the people of God we are chosen by Him, holy to Him, and we are dearly loved by God. We are also commanded to clothe ourselves with 5 Christian virtues. Today, we'll talk about those 5 virtures.

Description:Last week we saw the importance of seeking things above. We also saw that we belong to Christ and that we have His return to look forward to. In light of these truths, as beleivers we need not only think about things above, but we need to consider the things of this earth that would lead us to sin. Paul uses two pictures of dealing wit sin. Considering ourselves dead to the sins of the flesh, and taking off the old clothes of sin and putting on the new clothes of godliness.

Description:Almost a quarter of traffic accidents involve people texting while driving. Factor in other distractions, like spilled coffee or something on the side of the road, and the statistics go up. Why? Because people take their eyes off the road. If you aren't focused on where you're headed, you easily go in the wrong direction or miss a hazard right in front of you. That's very much like what happens with our spiritual lives when we take our focus off Jesus. Eventually, our spiritual lives crash!

Description:We have been delivered from sin! Jesus paid the price - He took it away by mailing it to the cross. And God has made us alive through being with (in) Christ. Apart from Jesus, there is no spiritual life. He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life - no one comes to the Father except through Him."

Description:In our world, there are many who feel that simple faith in Jesus is unsophisticated and superstitious. We are in hostile territory and our belief system is going to come under assault. So how do we avoid the pitfalls of many around us who would pressure us to abandon our faith? We must be careful to fix our eyes on Jesus in order to avoid becoming captives to the empty and deceitful philosophy of the world around us.

Description:This morning we are going to be looking at the importance of living out the faith we have in Christ. If we have received Him, we need to live as those who have. We'll also see the importance of developing our walk with Christ through being grounded in Him, by growing in Him as we are strengthened in our faith, and by expresing gratitude and overflowing in that expression - so that we all may continue to live in Christ just as we received Him.

Description:Paul's commitment to Christ's church was because of a commission given to him by God to present His Word. Paul's response to his suffering throughout his ministry was - JOY! The idea Paul shares is this- the church is profoundly important to Jesus Christ, so I will suffer or do whatever I need to do to serve His church, placing the needs of the church above my own. Many in our culture have lost perspective on this. We have a consumer mentality that looks at the church and asks "What's in it for me?"

Description:The truth about our reconciliation with God: it isn't something we've earned or can even try to earn. God did the work of reconciliation for us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It is now our responsibillity to be established and firm in our faith, to stand strong on a foundation of faith that holds to the gospel, and to proclaim the gospel to others.

Description:We carefully monitor the grown of infants and toddlers by watching for markers for physical and mental development. In the same way - we can monitor our spiritual growth! This morning, we are going to look at a passage that gives us three important things new believers (and even believers who've been around for a while) can monitor to check our spiritual growth.

Description:As Paul writes this letter to Colossae, he is imprisoned in Rome. He himself had never visited Colossae; the church was planted by people he had discipled. The letter comes to encourage this young church to grow in their faith which is the overall point of Paul's letter.

Description:God's Word calls on the whole church to clothe itself in humility toward one another. Part of the beauty of the church is the varying levels of spiritual maturity we find in the body of Christ. It is such a blessing to find those we can learn from, but in order to learn from them we have to place ourselves under them and be teachable enough to learn - we must humble ourselves.

Description:Isaiah wrote over 700 years before our Lord came to fulfill the words of prophecy. In his writing we find first the idea that Jesus would be given to provide for the needs of the world in general and the people of God in particular. What must have been amazing to those who heard Isaiah's prophecy was that this deliverer would come as a child!

Description:Zechariah Chapter 14 describes the second coming of Christ and the personal, present 1000 year reign of Christ on earth after His return. God's enemies will be destroyed, God's people will be delivered. The Lord will hold dominion over the whole earth and everything will be dedicated to Him.

Description:God invites us all to become His people and to make Him our God. The path that many follow awaya from God plays out and never delivers what we had hoped. God fills the vacuum that exists in oour heart and we only find our fulfillment in Him.